WASTE OF AMMUNITION. 



There is a recklessness about the Hottentot which the 

 Kaffir does not possess, the former being a thorough 

 spendthrift. Give him ammunition for his defence, and 

 he will blaze away at tree or bush, air or ground, until 

 it is all expended, and with no other object or reason 

 than for amusement, or thinking that a Kaffir might be 

 near. 



I had the following story from a Kaffir, one of the 

 actors, who remarked to me the great quantity of ammu- 

 nition that had been wasted in a skirmish. 



Three Kaffirs were hidden behind some rocks on a 

 hill, watching the advance of a party of the Hottentots 

 who were sent out to take cattle. As this party entered a 

 ravine below the Kaffir spies, one of the latter crept down 

 in the bush, and, taking care to get a safe place, fired a 

 shot. A volley from the Hottentots was the response, arid 

 they continued firing into the bush, from which no return 

 came, until the whole of their ammunition was expended. 

 The Kaffir remarked to me that, had his party been 

 larger, he could then have attacked the lavish invaders at 

 a great advantage. 



I always admired the neat little double-barrelled car- 

 bine of the Cape corps ; it is light, effective, and, being 

 double-barrelled, is far more destructive where snap- 

 shooting is all the chance one gets. I never thoroughly 

 understood why the whole army should not have double- 

 barrelled guns. 



It is a difficult matter at first to tell the Fingo from 

 the Kaffir, but after a little practice one soon sees many 

 distinctions. The Fingo, for instance, always bores holes 



